AnswerLab Bolsters Experience Strategy Offering with Key Leadership Moves

Kevin Kearney appointed Chief Experience Officer and Ashley Craig promoted to Managing Director, Research & Product Innovation

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AnswerLab, a research-powered experience strategy firm, today announced the appointment of Kevin Kearney as Chief Experience Officer and the promotion of Ashley Craig to Managing Director, Research & Product Innovation. These moves further strengthen the company’s research, experience strategy, and innovation capabilities. Kearney and Craig will report to CEO Megan Malli.

As Chief Experience Officer, Kearney will spearhead AnswerLab’s Experience Strategy and Design practice, advancing the firm’s ability to leverage human-centered research to deliver tangible solutions, design concepts, and strategic roadmaps.

Kearney brings more than two decades of experience at the intersection of design, technology, and culture, with leadership roles at top agencies including Razorfish and Huge, working with global companies such as Apple, Hulu, Beats, Twitch, and Meta. Most recently, he served as Head of Design for Supernatural at Meta Reality Labs.

In her new role as Managing Director, Research & Product Innovation, Craig will lead AnswerLab's evolution into the defining research-powered firm for the AI era — not just informing product strategy, but driving the invention of human-technology experiences that keep people at the center.

Craig brings more than 15 years of expertise at the intersection of human behavior and technology, with experience spanning education, enterprise, and consumer contexts. In her nearly eight years at AnswerLab, she has led the teams delivering innovative product research for the world’s biggest brands.

“Clients don’t just want research—they need it to make smarter, faster decisions and to de-risk not only their investments, but the impact emerging technologies like AI can have on their brand if they’re not built in ways people trust and value,” said Megan Malli, CEO of AnswerLab. "Kevin and Ashley will be instrumental in expanding how we translate our findings into action—bringing research, strategy, and design together to transform human insight into meaningful future-forward products and experiences our clients can confidently build against.”

“Throughout my career, the most impactful work I've been part of has been rooted in true human insight,” said Kearney. “In this moment of accelerated creation, products get developed without any strategic understanding of whether people actually want or need them. I joined AnswerLab to help the companies that build the future understand what’s going to resonate with their users and customers.”

Craig added, “We're at an inflection point where the technologies reshaping daily life are being built faster than we understand their human impact. Businesses are racing to keep up, but in that race, they risk missing opportunities to design these technologies to better solve human problems in ways that matter. Research can close that gap, especially when we move beyond research as a checkpoint and start using it as the engine of invention.”

About AnswerLab

AnswerLab is a research-powered experience strategy firm that helps pioneering leaders make confident decisions in moments of uncertainty. By combining deep human insight, AI-enabled research, rapid prototyping, and validated roadmapping, AnswerLab enables organizations to reduce risk, sharpen strategy, and design experiences that drive meaningful business impact. Trusted by many of the world’s most influential brands, AnswerLab partners with clients globally across technology, financial services, healthcare, retail, and emerging sectors.